Paul Jolly: Study the small print before you commit to buy

Buyers of certain used cars should be aware of a seemingly irrelevant detail which has serious implications.

Part of my work involves vehicle search consultancy and not just classic cars but regular daily driver modern vehicles. I am often asked to find suitable makes and models within a given budget. We all know that good quality used vehicles dried up after COVID-19 as a knock-on from the new car production disruption. It is still difficult here in the Westcountry to access decent stock availability.

I was asked to search for a VW Golf petrol automatic for under £8000 and there were several to choose from in Autotrader. However, there was a catch.  In the small print of the Autotrader adverts, I spotted the words ‘Imported Vehicle’. Nothing odd here you might think given the car came from Germany in the first case. But this refers to it being imported AFTER it was newly registered in another country. 

These cars were exclusively from Japan and had been imported quite recently. Right-hand drive, as here in the UK but with a KPH speedometer. All now with age-related UK registration number plates and UK MOT test.

Used cars in Japan are subject to highly stringent annual testing and this renders many vehicles unviable to sell on the Japanese home market. Many then get shipped over here regardless of condition.

The problem then is even if the car has service history, unless you can read Japanese, it’s useless. A mileage warranty is impossible as is the owner history detail. It might have been an airport hire car for all you know.

Problems do not end there. Your insurance company always asks if the car has been imported or modified with higher premiums applicable. This is because non-home market cars can and probably will be more expensive to repair. Servicing may require non-UK available parts and this will prove troublesome to say the least.

HPI will forever list the car as an import and dealers avoid these like the plague so future trade-ins will be compromised.

My advice?  Study the small print!